In September last year, Tesla CEO Musk surpassed Amazon founder Bezos to top the Forbes rich list.

Among them, Tesla stock is Musk's main source of wealth.

However, due to the sharp decline in Tesla's stock price this year, Musk's status as the world's richest man is also in jeopardy.

With the bursting of the technology stock bubble in the U.S. stock market, the position of the world's richest man may change hands repeatedly.

tesla pot

　　On Wednesday local time, Musk briefly lost the throne of the world's richest man, being overtaken by Louis Vuitton (LVMH) chairman Bernard Arnault.

Although Musk subsequently regained that throne, the lead was fairly limited.

　　Data from the Forbes Rich List showed that by Wednesday afternoon, Musk and Arnault were neck and neck in wealth.

The latter's net worth once reached $185.8 billion, ahead of Musk's $185.7 billion.

At the time, Tesla’s stock price was down nearly 4%, giving it a market value of just over $541 billion.

　　But in the end, Tesla's stock price decline narrowed to 3.2% at the close of trading on Wednesday, and its market value increased to $549.6 billion.

Musk's wealth has also increased to US$185.4 billion, but it is only US$700 million more than Arnott's wealth.

　　It is worth mentioning that this is not the first time Arnott has reached the summit.

In May last year, he also once became the richest man in the world.

At that time, Arnott's personal net worth was $186.4 billion, while Musk's personal net worth was $147.6 billion.

　　Musk has been at the top of the Forbes rich list since September 2021, and Tesla stock is his main source of wealth.

However, due to the sharp decline in Tesla's stock price, the stock has fallen by nearly 57% so far this year, so Musk's wealth has also evaporated by more than 100 billion US dollars.

　　Zhang Xiaorong, president of Deepin Technology Research Institute, told a reporter from Beijing Business Daily that the reason for the sharp drop in Tesla’s stock price may be that before the market opened on Monday, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced that it would launch an investigation into Tesla’s autopilot system.

But compared to the high point of the stock price, Tesla's stock price has shrunk sharply, and Musk's wealth has evaporated a lot.

　　In addition, the $44 billion acquisition of Twitter also affected Musk's wealth, because he sold some Tesla shares to raise funds.

Internet commentator Zhang Shule told a reporter from Beijing Business Daily that in the face of more competitors, Tesla’s growth momentum and competitiveness are no longer obvious. few.

　　According to documents disclosed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Musk reduced his holdings of 5.45 million shares, 9.65 million shares and 4.4 million shares of Tesla for three consecutive trading days on November 4, 7 and 8. , A total of 19.5 million shares were reduced, with a total value of 3.95 billion US dollars.

Many people believe that this is Musk cashing out for Twitter.

Investors also sold Tesla shares because they were worried that Musk would be more focused on Twitter and had no time to take care of Tesla.

Tech stocks shrink

　　Musk is not the only one whose wealth has evaporated.

According to the Bloomberg Billion Index, since the beginning of this year, the net worth of Meta founders Zuckerberg and Bezos has also shrunk by more than 80 billion US dollars.

　　Zhang Xiaorong also said that in addition to Musk, the wealth of technology rich people has also shrunk sharply, mainly due to the impact of rising inflation in the United States and the sharp drop in technology stocks.

　　Under the influence of the Fed's violent interest rate hike, technology stocks have plummeted.

Some people in the industry said that the valuation contraction caused by rising interest rates and the economic downturn and profit recession caused by a strong dollar are "double pressures" for technology companies.

　　According to data, as of October this year, the Nasdaq Composite Index, which is dominated by technology stocks, has fallen by nearly 30%, wiping out trillions of dollars in market value.

Shares of Apple fell about 15%, Microsoft fell about 26%, and Meta was the biggest loser, down nearly 60%.

　　Angel investor and well-known Internet expert Guo Tao said that due to factors such as the slowdown of global economic growth and the rising expectations of the US economic recession, the valuation of technology companies has generally shrunk sharply.

At present, the U.S. technology sector is still in the process of accelerating defoaming. In the short term, it is expected that the position of the world's richest man may change hands repeatedly.

　　"The world's richest man on the books is your debut, and it all depends on the strength of the company behind it to support the expectations of the capital market. Whether it can be maintained is nothing more than one more or less halo, and adjusting the brightness." Zhang Shule said bluntly. .

　　However, some people remain optimistic about the industry's prospects.

"In a world facing mounting headwinds, digital technology is the ultimate tailwind," Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella said in his latest earnings report.

　　Entering December, the Federal Reserve will also usher in the last interest rate meeting this year.

The good news is that the rate hikes by the Fed may be slowing down.

In a speech last week, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell almost "finalized", saying that even if the task of fighting inflation has not been completed, the central bank may reduce the scale of interest rate hikes in the future.

　　Beijing Business Daily reporter Fang Binnan Zhao Tianshu